Alternatives to Candy in Class Valentines (I Know, I Am Lame!)

Glow sticks with a valentine that says "You make my heart glow"
Matchbox cars with a valentine that says "I never 'tire' of you"
Annie's bunnies (crackers or grahams) with a valentine that says "Some 'bunny' loves you"
Pencils with a valentine that says "Valentine, you're al-write"
Bags of popcorn with a valentine that says "Valentine, you're so pop-pop-popular"
Toy airplanes with a valentine that says "Valentine, you're just plane awesome"
Goldfish with a valentine that says "You're o-fish-ally my favorite."

One year i got heart shaped candy trays and put different colored broken crayons in them and melted them in the oven. heart crayons
One year we made homemade playdoe and used a cookie cutter to make heart shapes. put them in cute bags from the dollar store.

Family fun had a cute idea. Tear out a page of a mad libs (or small coloring book), roll it up and tie it with cute ribbon or paper:

http://www.designmom.com/2009/02/ralphs-madlib-valentines/

Making cute bookmarks would be fun too.

No matter WHAT it is (candy, stickers, tattoos, pencils, dice, balloons, you name it) SOMEONE is going to be unhappy about "sugar/ junk to be thrown away or clutter up the house/ the expense/ a common or uncommon allergen/ medical condition that precludes x, etc.".

So send whatever you like :) If it's not candy (or if it is) someone's going to hate it... so find something you or your kids would like ... and don't sweat it whether other people think it's fun. Stickers, tattoos, glow sticks, origami, pretzels... whatever! :) :) :)

Or even lamer..how about just cards?

I've made mix cds for the kids in the past. The parents LOVE them just as much as the kids do. Makes my itunes addiction seem less of an addiction when I "share" with others. :)

My daughter & I like to give her classmates stickers and bookmarks. I always find some creative, pretty bookmarks on Etsy.com. Some of the vendors will give a discount for a bulk/large order. 60 valentines! Wow, that's a lot of valentines!

My son is in second grade, and pencils are a big hit.

not reading the other responses: How about something like a little bag of pretzels or a mini bag of popcorn. The popcorn you could make your own valentine saying something like I would just pop if you'd be my valentine. What about little playdoughs, I know a big pack can be bought at sams/costco. Or even pencils, they are usualy in targets dollar section.
I agree with the too much candy, you are not alone!

Stickers, erasers, pencils, tattoos, slap bracelets, note pads, glow necklaces/bracelets, stress balls, etc

Go to Oriental Trading's website, I got lots of goodies there!

what im doing for my daughter preschool class is either taping fruit snacks to their valentines or goldfish.

Stickers!
Cut up the sheets so each kid gets about 5 or 6, or however many you want :)

tattoos, bubbles, bouncy balls, goldfish crackers, stickers? I bet you could find some cheap birthday favors at your nearest dollar store that would be tons of fun!
-M.

Pencils and more pencils, which come in fun designs for holidays and are ALWAYS needed in school; they'll outlast stickers or tattoos and still be in use a few weeks later. If you feel like doing more: Small indivdual pencil sharpeners (I found heart-shaped ones for my daughter's friends) or shaped erasers in whatever cool shape your children like.

They would both probably LOVE tattoos or silly bracelets -or those rubbery bracelets. Pencils and stickers are big too! Look at Oriental Trading.com - they have SCADS of stuff like that for almost nothing (and in great quantities).

snack-sized packages of Goldfish crackers?

When I made valentines for my 5th graders one year, I did not give candy, but did make some really cute valentines. Maybe I did give candy. I don't remember now. I may have given them a "free homework" pass. I did a lot of gluing (glue stick) and then made the cards 'dimensional' by gluing (I think white glue, allowed to dry for quite a few days) lots of cute clear beads on the card. I think putting buttons or beads or ribbon on handmade cards are very sweet.

So don't feel like they need candy. A nice card is enough.
But other ideas that come to mind, other than the Goldfish cracker packages:
- Chuck E Cheese coins
- stickers
- stamps
- silly straw
- cute valentines cup
- erasers
- valentines pencil

Try a party store. They usually have valentine's themed gift bag stuff for cheap. Last year we got plastic red heart shaped straws.

Saw on pinterest an idea for heart-shaped recycled crayons that you'd make at home. Super cute and swirly cause of the mixed crayons!

At Target I saw chocolate covered pretzels and little valentine themed bags of goldfish.

a valentines themed pencil
or eraser

Do you have to pass out candy or anything?

I've given up trying to keep up with all the holiday hoop-la...call me a party pooper...but Valentine's is for lovers I decided, not my kid's elementary school.

Last year I boycotted Valentine's at school and put all my time into my own marriage.

I gave the kids an option to make or buy their cards. And then at the last minute my son saw a large, class size container of Gel Pens, and wanted to give his classmates each one Gel Pens. They were a huge hit with everyone, including the teacher. She used the same color the remainder of the year to grade papers.

Stickers are also a fun option for these grades.

How about a stick of sugarless gum for each child?

Target had really cute, pencils, erasers, and little notepads today. Very cheap...

My mother used to sew little heart shaped bean bags filled with dry rice for us to give out as Valentines. I am not a sewer at all and don't have a machine so that is out for me! In the past I have bought cheap plastic toys at the dollar store or from Oriental Trading and given those out too. This year I bought some hearts made fo craft foam and stickers to decorate them with. But my kids want to tape a sucker to each one so we are doing candy after all! Best of luck to you!

How sad. =( I think its ok on the few "holidays" to let the kids enjoy all the fun, and that doesn't mean they have to EAT all the candy they get. That being said, check out the dollar stores, they have pencils, stickers and other holiday items that are inexpensive. Good luck.

We do valentines, but I never include candy. IF you feel you need to add something to the valentine, maybe you could put in a pencil or a non-food item.

Why not send some Valentine crafts. I do my best to not send candy either (since my daughter doesn't eat it). How about somekind of fruit basket or one of those edible fruit things and they look so yummy. You can bring one for everyone to share.

http://www.ediblearrangements.com/Default.aspx?utm_campai...

This is not so much applicable to attaching to a valentine, as you've gotten many great suggestions, but I'm making a suggestion for a class treat (ie. for birthdays, future parties for room moms to bring). Rather than the cupcakes and cookies, etc., I make up fruit kabobs. Cut the wooden kabob sticks (from the grocery store) in half, and skewer grapes, blueberries, strawberries, etc. I usually make a few different combos as sometimes there is a child that dislikes blueberries, for example. I also cut off the pointy tips after skewering. Kids, teachers, moms LOVE them!

I've gotten some cute things at Oriental Trading.....

I just wanted to say, "thank you!" I'm the lame mom too then as I don't like to give candy out for any holiday. I also don't do it because I have a child with food allergies and I hate seeing his little heart fall to pieces when all the other kids are stuffing their faces with things he can't have:( I love a lot of these ideas, I hope more hop in so I will have years and years worth of ideas in my arsenal of "no candy" gifts:)

Great question! And equally great answers. I don't blame you. I am SO OVER all of the candy that seems to be around since DD started school.

I don't think you are lame. Of course this is coming from someone who gave pretzels out for Halloween.
Why not do some type of fruit snack. They normally come out with some heart shaped ones.

How about:

stickers
coloring pens
mini puzzles
notebooks
mini travel games (checkers)
jump ropes (cheap ones can be found at the Dollar Store)
mini ceramic banks (Dollar store..they have pigs, baseballs, basketballs)

Stickers, temporary tattoo's, Valentine pencils or erasers are a good idea. When I was a kid, you just got the Valentine, none of this candy and stuff.

Target has Valentine's Day pencils (10 for $1), there are heart shaped erasers. I think they also have glow sticks and stickers. I am sure there are lots of other Valentiney little things that are not sugar. IMO, you are absolutely right - my son is only just done with his Halloween garbage (we declared it stale on New Year's Day and tossed it) - we do not need to start over. My son was actually happier with the little toys he got at Halloween than the candy so you should not feel like the toothbrush lady. (Now my son did get a kangaroo toothbrush (it stands on it's hindlegs) at Christmas and he LOVES it). We did homemade potato stamp Valentine's one year - but that would be labor intensive for 60 kids.

I really dislike those drugstore valentine cards. This year I found the cutest mini valentine cards at Michaels. They're miniature square cards with cute pictures on them and they each have an envelope and a little sheet of stickers that go in each card. Another year I found cards in a catalog which came with stickers to decorate a face on the front of the card. I'm not a big fan of all the junky candy either.

I bought heart shaped earasers for my girl and truck shaped earasers for my boy to add to their valentines (which they either make from construction paper or tear out of their highlights magazine, yes I am THAT cheap)...from dollar bins at target...they had little pads of paper, stickers, pencils...

Check your local McDonald's for their "friendly packs." Some McDonald's sell Valentine cards where they offer a free fry, apple slices, hamburger, or a small cone. The pack has 12 cards and costs $1.00. I accidentally came across these last week when I stopped in...I think these are great!

Search valentine ideas on Pinterest! There are a ton. A favorite I saw was a card with a friendship bracelet.

I really liked the heart shaped crayon idea a lot. It would take some work, but not too much. You can buy heart shaped muffin molds for cheap at Target usually in the dollar section.

I was also going to suggest play doh and yogurt covered raisins. Those are at least still edible, but not candy. Fruit snacks are usually fairly well recieved and Dole now has real dried fruit bits in little packages too.

I found an adorable coloring book with crayons for $.99 each at Walmart. I think it is a nice alternative to candy. If that is affordable, I think it is a good thing to do. The kids get so much candy anyway. If not, a card ONLY is ok too. I would never think otherwise, and none of my kids ever said otherwise of that is what they received. Also, you can always look at the dollar store for stickers, or something for less money than $1 each.